Garth makes his return to comics this Autumn in the pages of Spaceship Away, reprinting classic strips by Frank Bellamy.
Beginning in 1943 and running throughout the prime decades of British newspaper strips, Garth was a popular feature of the Daily Mirror until the strip was axed in 1997. Originated by Steve Dowling and John Allard, the daily strip featured the adventures of a mysterious strongman simply known as "Garth" who became involved in dangerous situations across the world and could travel in time by inhabiting the bodies of figures of the past (a similar plot device later used in the Quantum Leap tv series).
Frank Bellamy took over the artwork from John Allard in 1971 and immediately became a favourite of comic fans for his dynamic layouts and depictions of the many beautiful women Garth encountered. Whilst Dowling and Allard's work had been gripping and atmospheric it was Bellamy's tenure which most fans seem to regard more highly.
Garth had always appeared in black and white, back in the days when newspapers felt that adults didn't need garish colour on every page. However for Spaceship Away the strips have been coloured by John Ridgway, and as the samples here show, compliment Bellamy's work very well. The first serial being reprinted is The Bubble Man which originally ran in the Mirror from 16th August 1975 to 28th November 1975. (Now if only Titan Books could reprint Garth right from the start, now that their James Bond series has completed.)
Spaceship Away No.19 is the issue in which it kicks off, and the comic also features brand new Dan Dare strips, plus other classic British strips and new material. It's out in October and can be ordered online from the official website here:
http://spaceshipaway.org.uk/
(Thanks to John Freeman at the Down the Tubes blog for the preview artwork. Check out his site for regular UK comics news.)
The latest issue of Viz is out now and features the return of The Pathetic Sharks. Originated by Chris Donald 30 years ago the five feeble and rather fey sharks have been occasional visitors to Viz comic numerous times ever since. I was invited to take over the art and script duties around 20 years ago and we produced a Pathetic Sharks Bumper Special for the younger market in June 1991.
Since then however the Sharks have remained aimed at the adult age group, along with their fellow Viz co-stars, where a more mature satirical edge can benefit the humour. In the current issue (No.188) the Sharks arrive on a British beach on a typical summer's day (except it's not raining) and proceed to irritate any holidaymaker within earshot.
For those readers who complain that British comics today have too few panels per page, check out Viz where 20 panels or more a page is the norm. Originally designed like that for Viz to spoof old comics, the format has now become the established style of Viz itself as most modern readers would be unfamiliar with the 1950s style of comics it lampoons. Not that parodying bygone comic formulas is Viz's only aim of course. Far from it, as its humour is always topical, so topical in fact that the comic's deadline is usually just two weeks before it hits the shelves!
With Viz being 30 years old this year, an exhibition of original artwork will be shown at the Cartoon Museum, Little Russell Street, London from 4th November 2009 to 24th January 2010 ( http://www.cartoonmuseum.org ).
Viz No.188, which also features favourites such as Roger Mellie, Eight Ace, Millie Tant, and Meddlesome Ratbag is £3 and on sale in all good newsagents, supermarkets, and even some bad ones.
Viz website: http://www.viz.co.uk/
Panini UK have just launched another title to their growing line of originated adventure comics. Joining Spectacular Spider-Man and Marvel Heroes on the shelves is the first issue of G.I. Joe, - a £2.25 full colour title featuring 16 pages of brand new comic strip every issue.
The comic is based on the long established Hasbro brand of action figure toys which has recently been adapted into a major live action movie G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The material within Panini's comic reflects the updates to the franchise shown in the new movie but the basic concept has been seen in British comics before, dating back to IPC's Battle Action Force weekly in 1983 and Marvel UK's Action Force comic in 1987. (Action Force being the British name back then, when it was assumed that British kids wouldn't relate to the American sounding GI Joe. A practice begun in 1966 when the original Hasbro GI Joe dolls were imported into the UK by Palitoy and reboxed as Action Man.) To add to this diverse history, Panini were also the publishers of the Action Man comic a few years ago.
The strip in the first issue of Panini's new G.I. Joe comic is written by Ferg Handley (Commando, Spectacular Spider-Man) and drawn by John Royale (Spectacular Spider-Man). Future issues will also see artwork by Kev Hopgood and Mike Collins. There are also activity features, a pull-out poster, Tech Specs, etc as one might expect in a magazine aimed at 7 to 12 year old boys but, pleasingly, the mag isn't dumbed down too young as some titles are for this age range.
Retailers are encouraged to shelve G.I. Joe alongside Toxic, Transformers, and Match of the Day magazine, which presumably are seen as its main competition. Being a regular contributor to Toxic I naturally hope it doesn't take away readers from that title but at the same time I sincerely hope G.I. Joe does really well. The success of Spectacular Spider-Man and Marvel Heroes has proven there is still a market for boys adventure comics so hopefully G.I. Joe will continue that trend. Such comics may have to borrow American characters these days but they're still giving work to UK creators and that's a healthy outlook indeed.
Edited by Simon Frith, G.I. Joe magazine is 36 pages for £2.25 and carries a free gift every issue. It's published every four weeks.
Panini Comics website: http://www.paninicomics.co.uk/Home.jsp
Above: Some of the various British comics available in newsagents today.
Above: Artwork for the event by Andrew Wildman and Simon Williams.The Transformers convention Auto Assembly went well yesterday, and is in fact still going on as I type these words. (I was only there for the Saturday afternoon.) Organizer Simon Plumbe said that 498 tickets had been sold prior to the event and no doubt more were sold on the door putting the attendance at over 500, the highest for a Transformers Con in Europe. Not a bad figure at all, as some tv/movie cult shows attract far less for their events.
It was good to finally attend one of these Transformers fan events after having to decline for various reasons in previous years. I was pleasantly surprised that a fair number of attendees did know my work, even though it's been nearly 20 years since I'd contributed to a Transformers comic (Combat Colin). Thanks to all those who dropped by the signing table for a sketch and a chat.
It was also great to meet up again with my fellow artists from the Marvel UK Transformers days, and to meet the new generation of artists who freelance for the modern Transformers comic.
Here's a few photos from Saturday...
1: Event organizer Simon Plumbe (near stage in white T-shirt) and his colleagues as the attendees gather for the day's events.
2: A view of the audience for our panel, "The Marvel Era".
3: A wide selection of Transformers toys and original artwork from the comics on display.
4: Artist's Alley: Left to right behind the table; Simon Williams, Jason Cardy, Kat Nicholson, Lee Bradley, Mike Collins, Andrew Wildman (standing in background), and, just about visible to Andrew's left, Staz Johnson.
5: Fans line up for sketches of their favourite characters.
Thanks to Simon Plumbe and his colleagues for organizing the event. For more info see their website at: http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/
I'll be a guest at the Auto Assembly convention tomorrow (Saturday 15th August) at the Holiday Inn in Birmingham.
It's an event to celebrate those giant morphing robots The Transformers and, although I've never had any involvement with that franchise, 20 years ago I produced regular back up strips Robo-Capers and Combat Colin for Marvel UK's Transformers comics.
Auto Assembly actually runs for two days, Saturday and Sunday, but I'll only be there for the Saturday events. I'm appearing on a panel interview with some of my old comics pals Mike Collins, Andrew Wildman, Lee Sullivan, and Staz Johnson at 1.00pm where we'll be talking about our days freelancing for Marvel UK, amongst other stuff I'm sure.
There are loads of other guests there too of course, and the full guest list and other info about the event can be seen here:
http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/
Garth makes his return to comics this Autumn in the pages of Spaceship Away, reprinting classic strips by Frank Bellamy.
